Jaune's Accidents
by VereorFaux
Summary: Jaune Arc always felt that he was really unlucky. Every time he went off to train, he got attacked by Grimm. Every time he was attacked by Grimm, he felt a bit worse about himself. The worse he felt about himself, the stronger the Grimm got. It's like a miracle that he actually got away with his life every time!
1. The Boy Who Cried Beowolf

**Jaune's Accidents:**

 **Chapter 1: The Boy Who Cried Beowolf**

* * *

It was yet another day at the playground and Jaune Arc was playing by himself. It wasn't like he had no friends, but all the kids he played hide and seek with were hiding too well. It was almost as if they ran to some other playground without him, but he knew they'd be back when they got bored of hiding.

He was too tired from looking around. He was never gonna find them. Lying in the sandlot and staring at the clouds, Jaune felt sad.

What if they'd never play with him again because of this? He liked his friends, even if they kept shoving sand down his pants or gave him a wedgie. It's not that different from home, his sisters did that all the time, he assumed it was some kind of familial love.

Sighing, six-year old Jaune stood up, looking around. Nobody was in sight, his sisters were doing something together and his parents were busy. It wasn't easy, being the youngest child. Most of the time, it was actually rather hard. He knew from other families that the youngest was often pampered, but his mother's work always kept her away from home.

Of course, in such a scene, lonely as he was, there was no wonder that an animal would approach him. Jaune smiled widely as a black dog approached slowly. It was kind of hunched over, and looked menacing, but ever so trustful, Jaune knew that lonely animals were drawn to lonely kids.

"Hi!" he greeted it. The dog growled. "Uh… do you wanna play?"

The dog growled again, and jumped towards him. Jaune tripped over the sand and the dog flew a bit too far overhead. Giggling, he grabbed a nearby stick and looked around.

"Let's play fetch," Jaune said. The dog growled again, jumping up and down, excitedly. The dog seemed very happy about playing with him, and that made Jaune happy too. The earlier loneliness completely forgotten. "Come on, catch!"

The dog jumped towards him, and Jaune hurled the stick forward, behind the dog. Unfortunately, the jumping dog and the stick collided, and rather than catching it with its fangs, the dog was struck in mid air, the stick embedded into its mouth and through its head.

Jaune stared in horror as the dog whimpered, falling onto the ground and unmoving.

"H-hey, are you okay?" he asked, rushing to the black dog's side. It was looking at him, hurt. Slowly, parts of its fur began to flake away into the wind. "Help! Someone help!"

He began crying, the dog vanishing within seconds, and his cries of help attracted the attention of adults not far from there. By the time they reached him, however, they found a sobbing mess of a child, holding a stick in his hands.

"What is it?" they asked.

"There was a black dog here," he said. "I tried to play fetch with it but it stopped moving and vanished!"

"A black dog?" someone asked. "A Grimm?"

"No, it was a dog!" Jaune said, stomping his foot. "Did… did I do something wrong?"

The adults didn't believe him. There was no dog, and if there was a Grimm, there was no way a six-year old could ever kill it.

When Jaune got home, red in the face, his sisters mocked him for it. When he tried to explain what happened, they didn't believe him either.

###

When Jaune was eight, he decided he would be a hero. Even though he cried often and failed, he wanted to work hard. His eldest sister became a Huntress, and he'd follow her steps. Rather than an actual weapon, however, he had a wooden sword, carved out of a long branch he found. It wasn't very heavy, but he could still swing it around to practice!

Because his parents didn't want him to swing it around in their home, and he didn't want his sisters to mock him any more, he went outside to the nearby forests. He knew that the adults warned the kids of Grimm attacks in the deeper parts, so he would only stay at the edge, and hit the sword against a tree.

Jaune, confident as ever, began to swing the sword. Every hit against the tree sent shockwaves of pain down his arms. He had to stop after five times.

He sighed. "This isn't gonna work out."

Jaune wasn't one to get down quickly. He worked hard! He knew he did! So what if his sisters made him cry every other day, that just meant he'd have to become stronger and show them! But... his hands hurt already.

It was very hard for Jaune to stay motivated long.

Sitting down and trying to rest, Jaune closed his eyes, leaning against the tree. He'd never become a hunter like this. He couldn't be a hero, his parents sisters didn't teach him anything even though they were all pretty good with all kinds of weapons, and his parents never had time for him. Deep inside he knew that his parents disapproved of the idea that he could ever become a hunter like their eldest.

The rustling of leaves made him open his eyes again. A large black claw was on the bark of the tree next to him, making him yelp in surprise and scramble backwards.

"Gah!" he shouted. "G-grimm!"

It was a Beowulf. Their appearance was similar to black wolves, though standing on two legs rather than four. Somehow, its appearance reminded Jaune of an old friend, but he couldn't quite place the image that appeared in his thoughts.

The sword still in hand, Jaune raised it with shaking arms.

"P-please don't eat me!" he shouted. This was it, he was done. Dead. He messed up, and it's all his own fault. He was a failure like no other. Jaune closed his eyes, waiting for the pain.

The Beowulf lunged, and the sound of ripping flesh emanated through the edge of the forest. A weight settled on Jaune's sword.

When Jaune opened his eyes, realizing that he was still intact, he found his clothes a bit ripped, and the Grimm nowhere to be seen.

"W-what the hell?!" he asked. Scrambling to his feet, Jaune ran home, not wanting to sit around and wait for the Beowulf to appear again.

When he finally reached his house, and stepped in, his mother was standing in the kitchen, preparing food.

"Jaune!" she said. "What happened to your clothes?"

"A Beowulf attacked!" he said. "It was at the edge of the forest!"

"Don't be silly," she told him. "There is no way the Grimm would get this close, there's a guarded fence."

"But it's true-"

"No 'buts'," she said. "Go clean yourself up, you're grounded for lying to me."

Jaune's shoulders slumped. She wouldn't believe him. Of course, nobody ever believed him.

That was him. Jaune Arc. The failure and liar.

###

Jaune was twelve when his father told him about his grandfather's accomplishments. There was a war, a large war between Faunus and humans, and Jaune's grandfather was a war hero. A veteran who fought the onslaught of the enemy and came back home.

It did nothing to reignite the spark inside Jaune that he lost four years ago. But Jaune still practiced, not to become recognized, but to become strong, so that one day he could proudly say he accomplished something.

Unfortunately for him, over the years, every day of practice was met with some strange accident. It was like he was a beacon for Grimm, no matter where he went, and every time he was alone, a Beowulf attacked.

He was so useless, all he could do was attract Grimm. Every attack made that thought grow stronger. Every attack made him realize just how dangerous being _near_ him was. There was no way he could ever become a hero like his grandfather. Jaune dodged out of the way like a coward, his clothes ripping but his flesh untouched, sometimes he managed to drive them off by wounding them. He really was useless. It didn't take very long for packs of Beowolves to come rather than just a single one.

And every time he got home, told his mother the truth, and was grounded for lying. A week later, it repeated, again and again. One time, she gave him a month, only for her to send him to buy groceries and be attacked on his way there. He was grounded for another month right afterwards.

The townspeople already called him the boy who cried beowulf. By the time he turned eleven, he stopped telling anyone, just resigned to tell his mother he fell down.

Swinging his makeshift sword at the tree, Jaune felt no pain his arms anymore. He supposed it was the apathy, the complete and utter lack of progression. Pain, he knew, showed that he was making progress, just like medicine had to be bitter to work.

The sword was battered and beaten, he would have to make another one soon. The rustling of leaves made Jaune sigh. He had to get away.

Turning around and not even checking what was behind him, Jaune ran.

When a tree was flying at his direction, he ducked reflexively, spinning around from his lowered position.

That wasn't a Beowulf. That was an Ursa.

He screamed loudly, his voice a high pitched screech. This was it! He was so going to die now! No way out!

When he tried to run away again, the Ursa leaped over him, blocking his way towards other people. It roared in his face.

Jaune roared back. It sounded like the mewling of a cat forced through bagpipes played by a man with only one lung.

The beast swiped at him, and he ducked. That was all he was good at. He wasn't a hero who could fight, all he could do was dodge and run. Running was out of the question, so swipe after swipe, Jaune ducked and jumped.

Yelping, Jaune tripped after landing on the Ursa's arm after a jump. Trying to catch his fall, he grabbed the first thing he could, spinning from it to land on his feet. That something was the Ursa's arm, and his spin sent the Ursa onto the ground when he accidentally threw it over his shoulder.

It actually made a pained noise. Using that moment of distraction, Jaune jumped over it, his feet smashing into its mask as he ran away.

Completely unaware of the fading Grimm behind him.

His mom was not gonna believe him anyway.

###

His parents refused him to send him to a training school. Without training school, he wouldn't have the documents to actually apply to a school for Hunters. Instead, they wanted to send him to a prep school, a place that would teach him the essentials do some normal job.

Meanwhile all his sisters had joined one school or the other for Hunters and Huntresses. Jaune was left behind.

He knew it was the stigma of being a liar. Even though he had stopped 'lying' to his mother 5 years ago, and the frequency of the Grimm attacks became even larger. At this point, Jaune stopped to care.

If his parents didn't trust him, he didn't have to trust them either. He kept his head down for a year and prepared.

It took him a while to fake the necessary documents he took out of his older sisters files. Taking his grandfather's sword and waiting for the mailman every morning, Jaune got nervous.

He was a liar already. So why was he so worried about lying here? All he wanted to do was learn how to be a hunter, and what better school was there than Beacon?

When the mailman came with a letter from Beacon, Jaune left.

###

Jaune didn't like airships. They made him sick.

That's why Jaune spent most of his time in the bathroom that was swaying back and forth.

Look at him. Again. He was weak, a weak someone with a weak stomach. All he did was throw up. How was he even supposed to defeat a Grimm and learn how to be a Hunter if he couldn't even stand inside an airship for a few minutes? He was the worst failure, he would definitely fail in Beacon, but at least he'd have tried.

A large explosion shook the airship. Everything turned upside down. Vomit started fly. Jaune's stomach turned even worse.

Crawling over the ceiling, Jaune managed to get out of the bathroom stall before the entire airship once again spun, this time by ninety degrees.

Jaune was falling, and there were windows under him.

"I'M GOING TO DIE!" he screeched. "I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to dieeeeeeeee-"

He took his weapon quickly, holding the shield under him as he smashed through the window and a large black something appeared under him.

Trying to hold onto it as he landed, Jaune was unaware of the hundreds of people staring through the window of the now upright airship, and almost slipped. Refusing to give up just yet, Jaune used his grandfather's sword and stabbed it into the black mass. Instead of holding onto it, the sword ripped through like tearing through cloth.

The airship lowered towards him and he shouted in joy, scrambling up the black mass and holding onto his sword, now ripping through the blackness into the other direction.

"Holy shit yes!" he shouted. Someone punched the window and reached their hand out to him. Jaune grasped it, getting pulled back into the airship as the black mass under him crashed. "Thank you!"

Reflexively, he hugged the person that dragged him back, who gave him an awkward pat on the back.

"No problem, now let go, your grip's too strong," she said. It was a girl, an attractive one at that, and Jaune grew red in the face. Unfortunately for him, the sudden excitement made him forget the lines he had practiced in front of a mirror to approach girls with. Fortunately, all that adrenaline also made him ignore the sway of the airship. Wind blew all over the interior due to the broken window. "That was impressive!"

"What was?" he asked. The blonde, long-haired girl was grinning at him, her fists under her chin.

"How you took out that Nevermore!" she shouted. The crowd around him made a noise of agreement.

"I did _what_?" he asked. Ah. He realized. Of course.

"You just cut through it, that was-"

Tears welled up in his eyes, though Jaune refused to cry in front of these strangers. "If you're just going to mock me, you could've just let me fall."

He turned around, walking away from the crowd. A young girl with black hair turned around, only having caught the last part of the conversation. "That was really mean, Yang. You shouldn't bully your classmates."

"B-but… he…"

"No. Go apologize."


	2. Can You Spear Me

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 2: Can You Spear Me**

* * *

Jaune Arc was truly the most unfortunate person in Remnant. He didn't have the looks, he didn't have the money, and he didn't have the strength that so many other people possessed. The one thing that he was hoping for was a new start. Away from his old playground friends that outgrew him, away from the bullying and the constant accusations of lying.

Instead, he ended up being bullied here too. The blonde girl, Yang, had tried to approach him again, but he simply brushed her off. Instead, Jaune decided, he'd try to make friends with people who didn't mock him.

That was easier said than done. Everywhere he went there were the people from the airship that said the same thing as Yang did, making fun of the fact that he almost died up there.

Walking aimlessly, knowing that Beacon of all places should be secured against Grimm attacks, Jaune found himself near a fountain. Lying down on the bench and trying to prepare himself for the inevitable horrible experience at school, Jaune sighed, staring at the clouds.

"Alright," he told himself. "You're not here to be a hero, Jaune Arc. You're here to become the strongest you can be, and you'll work hard, even if you fail."

There was nothing left for him after all. His parents didn't trust him, and he didn't want to go back to prep school.

"Doesn't that stuff work better if you look at your reflection?" someone asked. Jaune yelped, creating a large distance between himself and the sudden noise. The distance was large enough that he was two benches further, staring at a short girl with black hair.

"A-ahah, I think so yes," he said, shoulders slumping. "Also here to mock me?"

"What?" she asked, blinking. "I would never- I'm here to apologize for my sister!"

"Sister?" he asked."

"Blonde hair, about this tall?" she tried, lifting her hand above her head.

"Oh," he said. That girl. "It's… alright. I'm just-"

"It's alright, you don't need to explain," she said, walking towards him. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose."

"Jaune Arc," he introduced himself.

###

Ruby joined her sister eventually, and the next morning, Jaune was once again alone.

The initiation ceremony would be soon, and Jaune was still getting used to feeling safe. Walking through the masses of people towards the interior of his future dorm room, Jaune noticed a moment too late that he was about to crash against a girl. Tensing, Jaune tried to stop and instead had knocked the girl over as she walked over him, dropping the two large bags she was carrying.

Rather than let them fall on her, he quickly ducked and lifted them up over one arm and offered her his hand.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I went," he said. She had red hair and a bronze-golden armor, and just like with Yang, his face grew red. She took his hand, and he helped her up.

"It's alright," she said. "I wasn't either."

He smiled at her, though it might have looked a bit strained on his blushing face. She smiled back.

"I'm Jaune Arc," he introduced himself.

"Pyrrha Nikos," she said. "Why are you walking into the dorms?"

"I was just walking around, why?"

"The initiation is about to happen, a teacher asked me to bring these bags with me-"

"What?!" he asked, heat in his voice. "Where to?"

"The… cliff behind the school?" she said, confused. "Are you lost?"

"Not at all!" he said. "Come, we have to hurry."

"It's not _that_ soon-" she tried to say, but he was already running. She could barely keep up with him, running behind him towards the place of the initiation. Despite the heavy bags that made her a bit slower too.

It was kind of impressive.

###

Jaune wasn't really sure what was going on. He thought the initiation was simply going to be some kind of ceremony, and suddenly Ozpin was talking about exams.

"We're going to launch you towards the forest," Ozpin explained.

"What?" he asked. Ozpin ignored his question.

"The first person you meet eyes with will be your partner. Go fetch one of the pieces we left in the forest and you succeeded."

"What about landing?" Jaune asked.

"Of course, I hope you all have your landing strategies ready. Good luck."

"WAIT!"

They didn't wait. Jaune was flying through the air, feeling the wind rush around him. The other people in his year were too, and all of them looked ready to land, somehow holding themselves in all kinds of stances.

In the distance, he could see something approach while he was panicking in the air.

A… weapon?

A spear.

Someone threw a spear towards him. It was going to pierce him, and he was going to die.

Jaune refused to die, however. Instead of letting it hit him, he twisted his body out of the way and grabbed the spear. Using its momentum and spinning around, he threw it back into the original direction, adding to its speed.

Still worried about his fall, Jaune didn't see the spear penetrate through a number of trees before it hit the tree right next to Pyrrha's head.

Jaune meanwhile was looking at a bunch of spikes below him. Knowing he would die if he just landed on them like that, he grabbed onto his shield and held it below him, copying his maneuver from the airship and crashed into the spikes.

For some reason, a loud squeal erupted and the fall became slower. He only felt a small sting in his legs when he stopped.

Walking the stinging pain off, Jaune didn't see the Ursa Major behind him flake away.

What if he was going to end up with a partner who'd just mock him, like that blonde girl? He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be on a team with people like that. He'd like a nice person, instead, like Ruby.

And what if he didn't find a partner at all? Or couldn't get the pieces? What then? Return home?

There was no way he could do this on his own. He was going to fail. And he could blame nobody but himself.

The loud rustling of leaves made Jaune sigh.

"Not again."

He thought he was safe. Turning his head slightly, he found himself face to face with a dozen Ursa and Beowolves. Doing what any brave hunter would do in that situation, Jaune turned around again and ran.

The beasts followed after him. Jaune reached a cliff, a wide one, he knew he couldn't jump a distance like that. The Grimm had him cornered.

In the distance, a black haired girl and her blonde partner could see the scene. The black haired girl, Blake, wanted to help, but Yang grabbed her shoulder.

"No," she said. "Watch!"

Blake didn't exactly know what got into Yang, but by the time she got rid of the strong grip and rushed forward, Jaune already made his move. He jumped off the cliff, backwards, his shield up high as the Ursa crashed into it. Using the Ursa's attack to propel him over the cliff, Jaune watched as the rest of the Grimm jumped forward, an unorganized mess that fell into the cliff one after the other.

"What."

"He's a monster!" Yang said. "I think he's the strongest in the year! I watched him kill a Nevermore on his own!"

"What?"

"I know!"

###

Jaune was breathing heavily as he ran forward over split trees. He didn't want to know what kind of monster could do such damage, and he was not going to find out anytime soon! Eventually, he reached a clearing with a spear inside a tree, Pyrrha was next to it, trying to pull it out.

"Oh god, people!" he said. She turned around, he eyes wide. "You don't know how glad I am to see you."

"That's… nice," she said, giving him a once over. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm not, there were those Grimm back there that almost got me, but I'm pretty quick on my feet."

"I know," she said. Getting rid of all the Grimm without being hit once? Again, he was impressive. Why hasn't she heard of someone like that in the media? The most promising hunters were always all over the news! And on cereal boxes. "Can you help me get my spear out off the tree? It's not really working out."

"Sure," he said, grasping the spear with both hands. She pulled with him, and it came out blowing wooden splinters and leaving a large hole inside the old tree.

"Thanks," she said.

"I'm not that strong, that was mostly your work," he said, grinning. "Anyway, I think we're partners now, right?"

"Right," she said, smiling. "Let's go looking for the pieces."

"Alright! Onwards!"

With someone on his side, Jaune could finally be a bit more confident.

###

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, curious about her rather fortunate new friend. "I can't feel any Aura from you, can you suppress it that well?"

"What?" he asked.

"You know, Aura? The manifestation of your- you mean to tell me you don't have your Aura unlocked?"

"My family never thought I was worthy enough."

All that Pyrrha was thinking about was what kind of monsters his family had to be if this was someone who wasn't worthy.

"Do you… want me to unlock your Aura?"

"Would you?" he asked, sparks in his eyes. "Would you really? You're not just kidding, right?"

"I'm not," Pyrrha said. "I'm serious. You can't be a hunter without Aura, that's impossible."

Though maybe not for him. He seemed weird enough.

"Stand still," she said.

###

Jaune felt incredible! For the first time forever, he felt truly strong! This Aura stuff was so wonderful, he could dance in joy!

"You'll need to train hard with it," she said. "The more you use it, the stronger you can get. You'll even have Semblance, a unique ability to you."

His shoulders slumped. Of course. And he knew how training worked out for him: not at all.

They continued their way down the forest until they finally reached another clearing. They weren't the first ones there, but at least they didn't bring a Death Stalker with them.

Wait, shit.

"Death Stalker!" Jaune shouted. The thing was rampaging around and throwing the pieces left and right. An orange haired girl was riding it, dodging its stinger without much effort while. Her black haired partner was dodging its claws while shooting at it.

"Hey!" Nora shouted, pointing at Jaune. "It's the Nevermore guy!"

Jaune felt even worse. Why did they have to call him that.

Ren dodged out of the way as it suddenly rushed forward. Nora, too, jumped away from it and Pyrrha quickly ran around it, attacking the beast from behind while Jaune raised his shield.

He held strong against the claw attack, his legs not budging.

Just for once, Jaune realized, this thing might not be that strong!

It was the first monster he actually blocked, with his feet on the ground and all that, but maybe he had a chance fighting with Pyrrha!

Raising his sword, Jaune kept his shield up.

When it attacked with its stringer, he whacked it out of the way with his shield. The beast staggered momentarily and he stabbed in between its armor. Again and again, dodge, parry, riposte, dodge, parry riposte.

He hadn't even noticed the crowd of other first years sans Ruby, Weiss, a guy named Cardin and some nameless other guy had appeared and watched the fight.

He hadn't even noticed that Pyrrha, realizing that her spear wasn't doing much damage from behind the creature, had stopped attacking and tried to move in the front, where Jaune was constantly blocking each attack.

By the time Weiss came in, Ruby on her shoulders and unable to see the scene, Jaune struck with the final blow, cutting through the wounds he inflicted on the monster, and it stopped moving, flaking away in the wind.

"What."

Weiss' words were met with shouts of awe. Only Ruby remained confused.

"What?" she asked. "What happened? Do it again! I didn't see it!"

Jaune turned to Pyrrha, giving her a thumbs up, for once confident in himself.

"Great job, uh, how did you get behind me so quick?"

Everyone came forward and mercilessly patted him on the back.

Jaune didn't think it was very impressive.

That must've been the weakest Grimm he ever fought.


	3. Dead, Kiddo!

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 3: Dead, Kiddo**

* * *

Jaune Arc was nervous, just like usual. This time, however, he had a reason that went far above the usual problems. He was standing in front of Ozpin, the man responsible for keeping this school running.

And he was alone. Nobody else was called in. Before the teams would be announced, Headmaster Ozpin wanted to speak with him.

"Please, have a seat," he said, waving his hand towards the direction of one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Jaune did. For what else was he to do?

He was probably already caught. His cover blown. There was no way that Ozpin didn't know his files were fake considering he used the same grades as his sister from a school he never went to!

And he'd not only end up expelled, this was so illegal, he'd be thrown into jail!

Somewhere in the distance, two Nevermores tries to get through barrier of Beacon but are unable to penetrate it. Jaune's negativity knew no bounds.

"There's been some rumors going around about you, Mr. Arc," Ozpin said. Jaune was shivering in his seat, trying to shrink his head into his shirt like a turtle.

"Whatever you heard about any faked documents is totally wrong, sir!" Jaune squeaked out. Ozpin blinked, leaning back into his seat.

"That's...not what this is about." Ozpin shook his head. He was great at going with the flow and didn't let the new information faze him. "We took you based on your potential ability as a Huntsman, not because of your grades. I have to say, a single Huntsman-in-Training taking down a Death Stalker is impressive."

"It… it was nothing," Jaune said, slumping in the chair with relief. He wouldn't get expelled. For once, he got lucky. "Pyrrha did most of the work."

"Did she?" Ozpin asked. Going with the flow, and fully aware how the fight went down, Ozpin just shrugged. "You still fought it and landed the killing blow, I'm just wondering how you trained this much despite your lack of training school visit."

"I hit a tree," Jaune explained. "With a wooden sword, but…"

Jaune opened his mouth and closed it again. Would Ozpin believe him when even his parents hadn't? He had fled from Grimm so often…

"How often did you do it?"

"Every day, sir," Jaune answered.

"For… for how long?"

"Eight years."

Ozpin coughed slightly, looking away. What a ridiculous idea, but considering the Nevermore and the Death Stalker, there was no way he could just dismiss it out of hand.

"You trained hard, then."

"I'd like to think so," Jaune admitted. "I've… I've always wanted to be a hunter, but my family wasn't very confident in me."

"Why do you want to be a hunter, exactly?"

"I'm… not sure anymore," Jaune said. There was no way he would be the hero he wanted to be. He was too weak for that. But he could prove to them, to his family, that he did have it in him. That he could be the Huntsman that nobody believed he could be.

He could prove to his childhood friends and his sisters that he was more than a crybaby.

He could prove to his old friend, the black dog, that he grew up!

"An old friend inspired me," Jaune answered. "My sisters, they all became Huntresses. They're strong, capable, and I don't want to fall behind. I have many reasons, and I can't count all of them, but believe me when I say- I want to prove it to them and myself."

Ozpin smiled gently. As good a reason as any.

"That's a strong answer," Ozpin mused. Rising from his seat and lifting his staff, Ozpin intentionally swung it forward - not holding back as he let the cane swish towards Jaune's head on its way to the ground. Jaune ducked quickly, letting the attack fly overhead as the cane settled on the ground. "Ah, sorry, I underestimate the length of that thing. Let's go and start the team placements."

Ozpin didn't really sound sorry.

"Of course, sir," Jaune said, ignoring Ozpin's obvious attack on his head. Of course, Ozpin looked a bit old, he just accidentally swung it towards him with the speed to shatter trees.

###

Jaune stood with his partner, Pyrrha, staring at the form of Ozpin on the large stage. The screen behind him was displaying all the first years that had managed to gather the chess pieces.

"Hey, isn't that the guy who killed the Death Stalker?" someone asked behind him in a hushed tone. The people sitting there were older students who had been at Beacon for a while already. Most of them also traveled on the airship back to Beacon when the year started.

"I heard he killed a Nevermore on the way here, too!" he heard someone else say.

Jaune's shoulders slumped, and Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder. He appreciated the gesture, but their voices didn't stop.

"The first time will be Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long, as the team RWBY, lead by Ruby Rose," Ozpin announced. Jaune's stomach plummeted further. He wasn't on a team with Ruby.

"The second team will be Jaune Arc," Ozpin began. Jaune looked up, watching his face appear on the screen. "Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Ren, forming the team JNPR, lead by Jaune Arc."

"Me?" he whispered. Pyrrha gave him a wide smile, nodding. "But…"

The rest of the teams were announced, and eventually, Ozpin revealed that classes wouldn't start until next week so everyone could have time to settle in and go have fun in the city and meeting their classmates.

Their dorm rooms were also announced. Co-ed dorm rooms. Jaune felt a bit more nervous.

###

Pyrrha, ever the honor student, was quickly roped into helping teachers out whenever they met anyone. After setting their rooms up, Jaune was left alone when Nora and Ren went off to get food.

Due to his mood, however, Jaune wasn't hungry, so all he could do was walk the streets of Vale until the sun went down. He wasn't actually very interested or invested in the sights, worried more about the decision to put him as team leader of Team JNPR rather than the obviously more capable Pyrrha.

Nora and Ren seemed fun, but they weren't the kind of people that Jaune could confidently call the leading type.

Of course, he was Jaune Arc. For someone like him, even something as simple in a city as safe as Vale could become an adventure. So when he found himself in front of a restaurant, and his stomach started to rumble, he had to enter. It looked cheap enough, after all.

"Welcome!" he heard an elderly man shout as he entered. Sitting down at a table, he gave his order and waited.

Halfway through the meal, however, misfortune struck. A man with hat and white suit walked in, his orange hair swaying back and forth. Sitting down on another table, the man threw his legs up and put them on it.

"Give me some food, old man," the man in the suit ordered. The elderly man looked angry, but before he could speak up, the man in the suit aimed his walking stick at the wall and pulled on something akin to a trigger. An explosion echoed through the restaurant as a bullet embedded itself into the wall.

"R-right away, sir!" the elderly man said. Jaune felt sick, but there was nothing he could do here...

Pushing his plate away, Jaune stood up and tried to flee the premises quickly to call the police. Before he could do, however, the man in the suit put his walking stick forward, attempting to trip him.

Jaune jumped over it, reflexively grabbing for his weapon.

"Oh? Where to?" the orange-haired man asked.

"O-out," Jaune said, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice and failing miserably.

"Why that, come on, have a meal with me."

"I ate already," Jaune said, looking back towards his table.

"A half finished meal," the criminal spat. "What an insult to the cook, isn't that right, chef?"

"Y-yes sir," the intimidated elderly man said.

"I lost my appetite," Jaune admitted, trying to continue his escape. The criminal's weapon rested on his chest.

"Why that?" he asked. "Come on, be honest with me-"

"Because of you," Jaune squeaked out, also afraid of the weapon on his chest. He was being honest, after all, so the criminal would let him go, right?

"What the fuck did you just say to me you little bitch?" the criminal asked. "I'm Roman fucking Torchwick, are you telling me I made you so uncomfortable that you can't continue to eat?"

"Yes?" Jaune asked, confused. He was being honest, after all!

That was, however, the wrong answer, because Roman pulled the trigger on his gun after aiming towards Jaune's shoulder in an attempt to hurt, but not kill him. Jaune, however, was not the kind of person that would allow such a thing.

Dodging the bullet with a quick step to the side, Jaune smashed his shield against Torchwick's face, making the man fall out of his chair. The cook took the distraction to run out, and Jaune attempted to do so as well. Roman's sudden grab of his clothes was met with the sound of ripping, something that Jaune hadn't heard in awhile.

His clothes ripped, pieces of it still in Torchwick's hand, Jaune escaped.

"I'm going to track you down," Roman shouted after him. "And I'm going to make you miserable for the rest of your life! You're dead, kiddo! DEAD!"

Jaune squeaked the whole way he ran towards Beacon, the moon in the sky shining brightly.

By the time the police had arrived, Roman was gone, and the cook explained the situation in great detail to them.

The news of the heroic blonde swordsman that saved the cook's life and beat up a criminal for him spread all over Vale and towards Beacon. The only people who didn't hear about it where those that didn't care about the news. Jaune and Ruby were two of those.

###

Sitting next to his team in the cafeteria, Jaune sighed, his head on the table.

"I had one hell of a night," he said. Pyrrha blinked.

"You mean that restaurant last night, right?"

"Yeah, w-wait, how did you hear about this?"

"It was all over the news," Nora said, rather loudly. People stared into their direction. "They said a blonde swordsman beat up the notorious criminal Roman Torchwick and left him a mess on the ground-"

"W-what?" Jaune asked. The people whispered, mumbled, he could hear their mocking voices.

"Is that true?" Yang asked, approaching the group. Ruby was too busy eating her rather sizeable meal than to worry about any conversation going on around her. "That was you?"

"I didn't do anything," Jaune said. "I just- I…"

He just ran away after all, screaming like a child. He truly was useless, wasn't he?

"That's so cool!" Yang said. The people all around agreed. "You just beat him up like it was nothing, you say? You have to teach-"

Jaune had enough already, standing up out of his seat and walking away. He had enough of being mocked by all his classmates, and now they were even doing it in front of the whole school.

Pyrrha came after him quickly, and just like last time, Ruby looked up, only catching up the last part of the conversation.

"Yaaang!" Ruby said. "That wasn't nice! Stop bullying Jaune, he doesn't deserve it!"

"I- uh…" Yang tried. "But he…"

Ruby sighed. "I'll go apologize to him. _Again_."


	4. Standing Up

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 4: Standing Up**

* * *

Jaune didn't consider himself smart. Far from it, in any tests, he managed to mess up quite often, though that was because he spent more time hitting a tree than learning. If anything, Jaune was painfully average.

Fortunately, that kind of knowledge wasn't all that important in Beacon. The kind of knowledge that was important in Beacon was knowledge he earned himself through trial and error.

"The distance a Beowulf can leap depends on its age, it's very hard to pin down just what the 'youngest' and the 'oldest' are, which is why a quick engage and takedown are more important than attempts to put distance-"

"That's quite enough," Mr. Port said, raising his hand. The people stared at him, and Jaune sat down quickly, noticing them. He probably said something stupid. "As Mr. Arc has said - it's hard to decide how strong a specific kind of Grimm is except for the obvious divide between the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major species. An easier scale would be to put Grimm on a scale of different species."

"For what purpose?" someone asked. Jaune turned to the person who spoke up, one of Cardin's teammates.

"Well, everyone knows that something like a Nevermore or a Death Stalker is stronger than a common Beowulf. So if you can beat one, a group of Beowulf shouldn't make you break into sweat. The point is to decide if you're capable of taking down a particular Grimm or if you should retreat."

"Only cowards retreat," Jaune heard Cardin say, the obnoxious young man's voice echoing loudly and drawing more than a few glares towards him. "If you don't stand and fight, maybe you shouldn't be a hunter."

Jaune's shoulders slumped. That's all he had done, right? Years of running away, and his only accomplishment was defeating a Grimm with the help of Pyrrha, a prodigy who drew the stares of everyone towards her wherever they went.

"Is that so?" Mr. Port asked. "Very well, Mr. Winchester, why don't you show us. I have quite a few specimen here for practical training."

"Of course, nothing's gonna stand in my way," Cardin boasted.

It didn't take long for most of the class to move to the back seats while Jaune remained in his, not paying attention to class anymore. Cardin stood in front of a large cage.

"This is one of the oldest Beowulf species that I managed to capture, I've not yet decided on a name for it," Mr. Port said. For anyone paying attention, which was neither Jaune nor Cardin, Mr. Port's voice showed an obvious lack of confidence in Cardin's ability to take down the Grimm. The fact that the teacher had a weapon in his hands, ready to step in if it became necessary, accented the sight.

Ruby was resting her face on her desk, snoozing.

When the cage opened by a button's press, Cardin was quick to rush forward, shouting. He swung his mace, hitting the large Beowulf at the head, where a large white wolf's head had replaced the blackness of the Grimm. A mask, armor to the Grimm.

It didn't make a tone, no growl, no shout, as it lifted Cardin by his mace and threw him into the back of the class. Jaune, ever so unaware, doodled in his notebook.

The Grimm turned its attention to the source of absolute negativity in the room and jumped him. And by reflex, Jaune reacted.

He ripped the top of the desk off, raising it in front of him and blocking the claws that penetrated the wood before rolling away from his seat. The class rose up in response, about to attack the Grimm before a loud noise echoed. Smoke rose out of Mr. Port's weapon as the Grimm began to fade.

"And that," he said, nodding approvingly at Jaune, who had instinctively put himself between the backrow seats and the Grimm with his shield up high. "That's why you need to know your limits. The only good Hunter is a living one. There is no shame in running away if one lives to fight another day."

That did make Jaune feel a bit better about himself. Smiling thinly, he looked at the large wooden board that used to be a desk with three holes in it and lifted it up, putting it back in place. It didn't really stay, and the hole was exactly where Jaune was sitting.

"I'm sorry about the desk," Jaune said. Ruby blinked the sleep out of her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at Yang who was giving Jaune a wide-eyed look, missing the fact that the rest of the class had the same expression. "Yaaang, are you bullying Jaune again?"

"What? No!" she said. Ruby stared at her in suspicion. "He just blocked that Grimm that made Cardin fly around the room!"

Ruby nodded slowly.

"I'll go apologize to him later."

Yang put her head on the desk. "Ugh."

###

"You think you're funny?" Cardin asked, trying to shove Jaune against a wall but failing miserably when his classmate's body refused to budge.

"I don't know what you mean," Jaune said. He knew exactly what was happening right now, but after coming face to face with the career criminal Roman Torchwick, he didn't really think that some schoolboy bullying was going to be the end of him. Considering the fact that the school still liked to call him 'Nevermore guy' made him feel bad enough already.

"Showing me up in front of class, thinking you're some kind of bigshot, Arc?" Cardin continued. He looked absolutely furious, like Jaune's mom when he came home with ripped clothes. "Aren't you gonna apologize?"

"For what?"

Jaune knew that one had to stand up to bullies. Of course he knew that. It didn't always work out, but he had it a lot easier standing up to guys than to girls. Yang reminded him of his sisters, he didn't like her and she made him uncomfortable. Cardin, however, didn't have the same effect.

Cardin grabbed Jaune by the collar and raised his fist. Jaune moved faster, not wanting to get hit. He put his hand around Cardin's wrist, stopping the advancing fist.

"Don't touch me," Jaune said. His voice sounded a bit more forceful than he wanted.

"You-" Cardin growled, pulling his arm out of Jaune's grip. When he was about to grab his weapon, however, he came to stand still again.

"Now," Ms. Goodwitch said, walking through the door with her wand raised. "While we have nothing against students… practicing together, I believe that such an effort would be wasted if you were fighting out here all on your own."

"W-what?" Jaune asked. "What do you mean, Miss?"

"Why don't you two just have a duel in front of your classmates, that would be far more educational after all," she said. Jaune blinked. He didn't want that! They'd just see him fail considering how horrible he was at actual fighting!

"I would rather not-"

"That's not up to debate, Mr. Arc," Ms. Goodwitch said. Jaune shuddered. She was just like his mother. "Follow me."

Cardin begrudgingly followed after her. Jaune resigned himself to his fate to be embarrassed in front of the first years and trailed after them.

###

"That's way more than just the first years!" Jaune shouted, looking around at the dueling hall filled with students and teachers from all the years.

"Your previous exploits interested others, it seems," Ozpin said, walking into the hall behind him. "It's just an exhibition duel, Mr. Arc. Don't be so nervous."

"B-but I can't fight!" Jaune said. The crowd of people listening in began to laugh loudly. If the person who single handedly killed a Nevermore couldn't fight, then the entire school had no reason to exist. Jaune, however, misunderstood the laughter, as always.

All the mocking around him made Jaune sad. While standing up to Cardin was one thing, living through the shame of being mocked by everyone in the school was too hard. Trying to look for a familiar face in the crowd, Jaune found his team, and of course, Yang, who was ever so happy to laugh at him with the others. Ruby, however, was nowhere to be seen.

That made Jaune even more sad.

His arms hanging limply to his sides and his hair hiding his eyes from view, Jaune walked onto the platform, facing Cardin. There was no use in fighting back, he could just let Cardin beat him in a few seconds and then go back and wallow in self-pity while lying in bed.

The screen showed their Aura levels and faces before a loud noise announced the start of the duel.

Cardin made the first move. Jaune stood there, waiting for it to finish.

His body, however, had other ideas. Jaune moved back, taking one step to dodge the attack. The mace hit the ground, and Cardin looked even more furious than before. Preparing himself for the followup, Jaune closed his eyes and waited for the pain to hit. Instead, something settled in his hands. He opened his eyes.

His body had reacted and touched the mace - Cardin must've held back despite his anger to avoid breaking Jaune's arms. Maybe he wasn't that bad? Cardin seemed to have anger issues, but maybe he wasn't that bad - there were many people with strange quirks around, after all.

When Cardin swiped his leg forward, trying to make Jaune let go of the mace, Jaune once again stepped backwards, dragging the mace and Cardin with him. He let go, making Cardin fall on his face.

The young man stood up, red in the face.

"I'll kill you!" Cardin shouted. It was like a dance. Every swipe was dodged, only one step in the right moment, to the side, backwards, sometimes forwards right into Cardin's face, and every attack missed. Jaune didn't know how long he had to dodge for it to be finally over - despite his attempt to lose quickly, he didn't actually want to be hurt. Being hurt was scary, after all! If he was hurt and his clothes ripped, his mother would be angry-

His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and after what seemed an eternity, Cardin collapsed on the ground.

"F-fuck this," he said, unable to move. "I quit! What the fuck is wrong with you freak?!"

Cheers erupted when Jaune was declared the winner. The blonde boy blinked.

"You can forfeit?" he asked. Why didn't anyone tell him? The fact that he just _won_ the fight wasn't even on his mind anymore. The people cheered loudly as Jaune walked out. Cardin must've grown bored.

When he was out, he met Ruby.

"Do you know where everyone is?" she asked. Jaune shrugged, pointing towards the dueling halls. "Thanks!"

"No problem," he said, walking towards his dorm. It'd be way easier if he just forfeited any other duels in the future.


	5. (Fall)out to get a date!

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 5: (Fall)out to get a date!**

* * *

While Jaune was certain he lacked the necessary features that would make him a good Huntsman, he was certain of one thing - there was an undeniable charm to him (barring the exceptional cruel bullies in Beacon) that he could use!

The girls in his school were off, though. All of them had to bring up that stupid Nevermore story that Yang spread, except for Ruby, and he didn't really want to threaten his friendship in case she rejected him.

This left him with only one possible way.

Going to Vale and meet some girls. He asked some guys if they wanted to come with him, but that didn't work out. Plan A to get some male friends failed. He still remembered that conversation as if it was yesterday. Which it was.

"Us?" the pale guy asked. "With you? No way in hell - there's no chance we can get any with you around."

Jaune's shoulders slumped. Of course, he would drag everyone else down. When he nodded, he left, not hearing the last sentence through his depression.

"The girls would jump his bones, man, how could we even compare?"

He was, of course, unfortunate enough to have asked people that immediately went around and spread the word.

So when he decided to study in the library, it didn't come to surprise to him that he would be the topic of conversation for most people, and the mocking followed within minutes.

An arm slung around his shoulder as he was reading up on the various type of flying Grimm, and he looked to his left, where a person had seated themselves.

"Hi!" a girl with brown hair and stylish sunglasses said. "So I heard you were looking for friends to go out with!"

Another girl, a bunny faunus from the looks of it, and two guys sat down across him.

"I… uh," Jaune didn't really know what to say, so he went with the truth. "Yes?"

"That's great!" she said. "The others were kinda intimidated, but you seem like an alright guy, and we kinda wanted to go to a club tonight, so you're coming with us!"

She was an upperclassman. He remembered her from… somewhere. Who was he to reject an offer by an upperclassman?

"Alright," he agreed. If he said no, she'd probably just twist his arm until he agreed anyway, just like home.

"Great, we'll meet in thirty minutes at the gate-"

She looked down at his uniform before narrowing her eyes before pointing at her team. "You are going to meet us in thirty minutes at the gates, me and him are going to pick some better clothes."

"Wait, what?" Jaune said. "I don't have that many clothes-"

"You can borrow some from me!" she said. "I, the great Coco, won't let her cute little underclassman go dressed in a school uniform!"

He didn't even have time to protest, and he didn't wanna run away either after she made an effort to ask him to go with them. So when she grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him off to the dorms, he lowered his gaze to the ground and a single tear fell from his eye.

* * *

Jaune didn't really dislike the new clothes he got.

That said, he didn't really _like_ them either. They were… fine. Too fine for someone like him. The fact that she said he could keep them made him feel even worse, so he didn't protest much when she all but carried him towards the club.

Like a sack of potatoes on her shoulder.

He could see one of the guys grinning the whole time, finding the scene more than hilarious. The bunny faunus girl laughed nervously whenever he looked towards her. She didn't seem very comfortable going out like this either, but she still dressed up.

He really had to ask how Coco had been able to get a dorm room for her clothing.

"Here we are!" she said. "Club Whatever!"

He looked up and paled. It was humongous. If anything, it looked like twice the size of the already huge cafeteria in Beacon, on three stories.

When she walked towards the entrance, the small hope that the bouncer would not allow him to enter came to a quick halt when he just smiled at them.

"Long time no see, Coco," he greeted.

"School and responsibility!" she chirped and dragged him in.

The music was loud. The people were loud. The lights were bright.

It wasn't all that different to a food fight at Beacon, to be honest.

Coco finally stopped manhandling him and threw him onto the ground. He twisted at the fall and righted himself up quickly after landing on his feet.

"Welcome to my home away from home that's also away from Beacon!" she said loudly over the music. "COCO IS BACK!" she shouted loudly and the entire crowd roared in acknowledgement.

This upperclassman was something else, Jaune decided. Sighing and resiging himself to his fate, Jaune slicked back his hair and looked around, where the two male members of Coco's team had already dragged off the bunny faunus girl.

'At least nobody here will recognize me,' he thought. If he messed up, he could just not come back here ever again. No big deal, he had quite a few locations he wasn't looking forward to going back to. Like home.

When Coco was riding the crowd, Jaune decided to move onto a higher floor and get away from the loud music before taking a look around. There were a lot of girls, many of them with guys already, and the Jaune Arc charm just had no chance to show itself.

After tracking around on the floor and moving onto the highest one, he finally caught sight of someone that made his heart beat a bit faster. She was sitting alone, raven hair hanging down her back as dark and as long as the midnight between two stars. Swallowing, Jaune closed his eyes and whispered encouragements to himself.

"It's alright," he whispered. "If she says no, it's alright."

He moved forward, with a shaky hand and just like he practiced he grabbed the table and leaned over it, right into her sight.

"Hello," he said. His voice was as smooth as silk that a cat was ripping apart. "Could I ask this lady for a dance?"

"I don't dance," she said. He held his surprise back. It wasn't a rejection, right? She just said she doesn't dance.

"A drink, then?" he asked. He wasn't sure what they actually served here, but by the look of the glass in front of her, there was _something_ to drink around here.

She gazed at him, and suddenly all of his instincts screamed for him to get out of the way. He didn't know why, but he just sat down, not noticing the small fireball that would've probably burned a hole in his pants had he remained standing there.

The woman blinked.

Her fiery gaze narrowed and her nostrils flared slightly, a twitch of annoyance on her face before she smiled.

"Of course," she said. "What's your name, kid?"

She didn't look much older than him, but the way she spoke made him imagine some strange maturity coming from her.

"Jaune Arc," he said. "Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? And you, m-my queen?"

The way he stuttered towards the end was going to be his doom…

But instead of laughing at him, she seemed taken aback.

Was it finally working?

Was the Jaune Arc charm finally on?

"If I'm the queen," she said, leaning forward. "Then what are you, Jaune Arc?"

"Me?" he pointed at himself. Laughing slightly, he shrugged. "I suppose I could be the knight."

"Not the king?" she asked.

"No." He shook his head. "The king is like… an old man. Someone who can barely move."

"Hm?"

That made her interested. She smiled slightly, leaning back and brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, like Headmaster Ozpin," Jaune continued. "You know him? He's the headmaster of Beacon."

"Oh, yes," she said. "I know him."

Her voice was strained. Maybe she was sick? Jaune couldn't be sure.

"Why the knight then?" she asked.

"When I was little," Jaune explained. "I wanted to be like my grandfather, a hero, he fought in the Faunus-Human war long ago, but... now I don't. Heroes don't choose to be heroes, they just fight to the best of their ability."

Her eyebrows twitched.

"Jaune… Arc?" she asked. "What was your grandfather's name?"

"Arthur," he said. "Arthur Arc, I think he had a nickname, thoug-"

"Arthur Arc?" she asked. Then she paled. Then she turned slightly green, though that might just have been the club's lights. "The Pendragon? The Demon of Vale? Faunus-Slayer? The man that got his entire bloodline banned from ever entering Mistral again?"

"You know him, then?" Jaune's eyes lighted up.

"And you study under Ozpin?" she asked, slightly louder.

"Yes?" he asked. Well, he _was_ the headmaster, so everyone was studying under him at Beacon, right?

She stood up abruptly and left, not giving Jaune the chance to say anything.

His head hit the table.

Of course it wasn't going to work out.

* * *

Cinder's teeth were grinding together as she moved through the streets, dialing a number on her scroll.

"Ozpin's secret weapon," she hissed. I thought it had to do with the other half of the Fall Maiden's powers, but instead it's someone like _him_."

The person on the other end of the line picked up.

Torchwick and his new employee were visible on the screen, the man looked bruised.

"I need information," she said. "And I need it quick."

"What doesn't our great leader know about?" he asked.

"A boy, I just met him," she said. "Ozpin's apprentice - Jaune Arc. I want to know how to get rid of him."

"What's he look like?"

"Blonde, average, it wasn't that easy seeing his features in the dar-"

"Oh," Torchwick all but interrupted her. "I know who you mean. Yeah, I can help with that. I can definitely help with that. Neo - you got a job."


	6. Dancing in the moonlight

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 6: Dancing in the Moonlight**

* * *

After the embarrassment that was the club visit, Jaune swore to himself that he would never worry about relationships again. From now on, he was going to work on being a huntsman, even if he was the least competent one, he would work hard, he would grow strong.

Unfortunately for him, and just one more station in the series of the misfortunate life of one Jaune Arc, Beacon decided that they should host a dance night. Even worse, they left Coco in charge.

It didn't take very long for her to turn the cafeteria into a copy of the club from yesterday. She even got the same DJ and bouncer.

This time, however, there was even more peer pressure for him to follow along. Coco once again gave him clothes, and even Pyrrha seemed kind of excited to do something 'normal' as she called it. He wasn't sure what kind of life someone like her lived, but she sounded like a very sad person.

To his question about why she had so many clothes that probably didn't fit her, she just said she liked their looks even if she didn't wear them.

Coco had a lot of money to spare.

Having a school event like this also meant people asking around for dates. And once again, Jaune was turned off from the prospect of having anything to do with the girls in his year. And Coco was too intense for him.

Of course, this time he was left with the option of asking Ruby to go with him as a friend. Only as a friend.

Unfortuantely for him, she was late. So when the music was loud and Ozpin was showing off his sick dance moves, unaware that cane physics shouldn't work like this, Jaune was sitting in the corner and staring at Pyrrha, who was spending more time fending off possible suitors than actually dancing. Minutes later, Pyrrha was dragged onto the dance floor by Nora.

Ren sat next to him, staring at Jaune intensely. "Want to dance?"

Jaune shook his head a bit too quickly and Ren looked genuinely hurt.

Rather than wallow in self-pity for much longer, Jaune decided that he could simply go to his room and sleep until the party is over. Just when he was about to stand up, there was a girl.

He didn't know how Coco managed to open up the roof of the building to let the moonlight in, but the girl with two differently colored eyes was bathing in it like a goddess. The white glow that surrounded her made her stand out to him, and Jaune felt his heartbeat increase steadily. When she began walking towards him, it was ready to burst out of his chest.

There was this strange elegance to her. She said nothing, her lips didn't even part in a smile, and her bright silver hair swung around with every step she took. When she stood in front of him, she lifted her hand, as if inviting him to a dance.

Jaune grabbed it and let her drag him off.

When the next song started, they were dancing. Worried about how much he would fuck up now, he kept it slow, until she picked up the pace.

Her hair was reflecting the stars in the sky, creating a brilliant pattern that fanned out when she spun around, her leg almost impacting with his neck. Jaune wasn't aware what kind of dance this was, but he caught her leg, and spun her around before putting it down. From the way the crowd went 'ohhh' he assumed he did something right.

Then she became even faster. She spun around, the glint of silver over her feet and legs visible to everyone else as knives was simply more endearing to Jaune. As if her every move was accented like a shooting star, white lines followed her movements in the dark room, trying to touch him. He jumped back and forth, left and right, keeping up with her rhythm. By now, the entire crowd had parted.

From an outsider's perspective, it was rather obvious that this person was trying to hurt him. Ozpin especially was interested in the sight, and moved to get himself a drink to watch.

She got even faster, and when she suddenly jumped up, ready to axe kick him the face, he caught both of her legs between his hands and spun her around, letting her spin through the air land on her feet.

To Jaune it looked like she bowed to him, so he bowed in return, missing the two throwing knives that went over his head.

When he looked up again, she was gone.

That was how Jaune lost his first love.

When everyone was staring in awe at the display, Jaune went back to his seat with slumped shoulders. When the next song started, Ruby finally arrived. When the crowd gathered around Jaune, she rushed over to him, worried that he was being bullied again.

"Those moves were so _sick_ ," someone said. Jaune looked up, the glimmer of hope in his eyes. "That was so intense!"

"You think so?" Jaune asked, laughing nervously. "I didn't really practice anything-"

"You didn't?! That looked so crazy!" an upperclassman said. "You both were like lightning!"

Because they were so sparkling? Jaune smiled. When Ruby appeared, his smile widened.

"What happened?" Ruby asked.

"I met this amazing girl," Jaune said. "Had a dance with her. But she's gone now."

"Oh," Ruby said. "That's too bad. Does she go to school here too?"

"I've never seen her before," Jaune said, sighing. Ruby patted him on the back.

"Well, I'm here now, sorry for being late," Ruby said. "But Yang left a mess behind and I had to clean some of it up."

The mess was a bunch of guys that didn't like to hear 'no'. When Ruby and Jaune left for the dance stage, the crowd was still talking.

"A dance," someone said. "It really was just a dance to him."

"He's too strong," someone else muttered. "Do you think he takes apprentices?"

* * *

Blake was staring at the letter she received earlier. When the white fang symbol was the first thing she saw, she wanted to throw it away and run. Run wherever Adam couldn't find her. But some sick curiosity settled in her stomach and she read it nonetheless.

 _Dearest Blake,_

 _I wish I could've understood why you left properly. Why you broke from us and left me this miserable. But now, I understand._

 _You knew, didn't you? That Jaune Arc was starting at Beacon that year._

 _The grandson of the Pendragon. Half of the White Fang already vanished without a trace, gone into hiding when his name turned up._

Blake twitched.

She remembered something. Something important.

She remembered that she overheard Jaune once talking about his grandfather, whom he called a hero. If she… if she wasn't mistaken, and Adam was right, then Jaune's 'hero' of a grandfather was a ten thousand class mass murderer whose crimes were only forgiven due to the circumstances of the war.

And if she wasn't mistaken, then Jaune also said that he wanted to be a hero just like his grandfather. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. The average-looking, if incredibly powerful classmate, was a dangerous beast. He came to Beacon, of all places, where the Faunus population is low, but still a sign of cooperation.

Jaune Arc wasn't like his grandfather. Arthur Arc was a monster. There was no forethought, no elegance. He didn't discriminate. Jaune Arc was worse. He chooses his targets. He knew where to hit so it would hurt more. If Arthur was a monster, Jaune will be a Nevermore to Arthur's Beowulf.

Once again, she had the reflex to run away and leave everything behind.

From the looks of it, and the attempted assassination just last night, Jaune obviously had other plans.

Maybe, she was right where she had to be to be safe from his wrath.

Maybe, it was the White Fang that was his target.

A small hope bubbled up in her, with a hefty amount of fear included. If he could defeat the corrupt White Fang, there was hope for the Faunus and Human cooperation.

If he murdered them all, there wouldn't be many Faunus who stand against the discrimination anymore.

With a shaking hand, Blake ripped the letter apart, not reading the rest of it.

Here, she decided. She was here to stay, even if it meant working with Jaune Arc.

Ruby seemed to have some sway over him. She would have to ask her to introduce them.

* * *

Neo was out of breath when she arrived back at the base. Torchwick sat there, throwing a ball against a wall when she came in, and stopped when he caught sight of her.

"Is it done?"

Neo shook her head, holding her chest and heaving, bent over.

"He's… that good?"

Neo nodded.

"Fuck."


	7. Imagine Pendragons

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 7: Imagine Pendragons**

* * *

Jaune was exhausted. Not only did his first true love up and vanish, the people began to spread rumours again about how she tried to kill him.

It was the worst.

How the hell was anyone supposed to get through school like this? They weren't, of course. Not unless they were Jaune Arc. Jaune was nothing if not enduring. Today, for whatever reason, class was about collecting honey from the nearby forest. The forest filled with Grimm.

To feel safe, Jaune did the most human thing of staying near his team and not leaving their side. Nora was apparently making the error of assuming that the entire tree is needed for the honey and rips them out of the ground with their roots intact.

With people this strong, there was nothing Jaune had to fear. Nothing but the fear itself. And the sadness of having his heart ripped into pieces. The only person he could confide in was Ruby, and she has been spending more time around her sister lately, probably to stop her from mocking him any further.

Jaune sighed, his eyes half closed as he stared at the ground, walking forward.

Cardin had been avoiding him as well, at least, since the duel. Maybe he just wasn't worth his time, or maybe standing up to bullies actually made them stop for once.

Holding a jar open and moving towards a tree, Jaune began to sap off the honey, unaware of the fact that he had long since walked away from his team and the only team nearby was Cardin's.

The bully had a smug smile on his face as if he just had the idea of the century. The kind of smile that would be reserved to the kind of person that manages to exterminate all Grimm, one that bled arrogance as much as these tree bled honey.

Which is a lot. There's a lot of honey in those trees.

Or is it syrup? Nobody really cared, this wasn't what hunting Grimm was about.

Jaune hummed a merry tune, putting jar after jar next to him as he bled the tree dry, unaware of the fact that Cardin was behind him, ready to throw a jar filled with honey onto him in a desperate attempt to show superiority by making him sticky.

Bullies live in their own world.

Throwing the jar and running away immediately, Cardin didn't notice that Jaune bent down to put down the next jar and avoided the projectile. The honey exploded all over the tree, some of it dropping on his clothes. Not noticing the glass shards, Jaune just stared at the stains on his clothes.

"I can't do anything right," he muttered. "First the bombshell in the club, then the dance, and now this."

Jaune fell to his knees, ignoring the reddish honey staining his pants. Looking around, Jaune noticed his teammates were gone too.

"Why."

It was the only word he muttered.

Negative emotions attract Grimm.

Unfortunately, Jaune wasn't in class when that was explained. Prone to fall into bad moods, Jaune was a literal Grimm magnet. If the probability was one percent, Jaune would roll the nat 100 in Grimm spawning. If it was one in a thousand, Jaune would have 5 Grimm ready to maul him.

Aura, as strong as it made people, also had the effect of amplifying the effect of emotions, bleeding them out easier, because nothing the soul feels can vanish without a trace. The most accomplished hunters were capable of suppressing their Aura to such a degree that their emotions didn't even matter, and Grimm couldn't feel them coming.

So Jaune, prone to be attacked by Grimm since the tender age of, well he couldn't be sure when it started- a silent prayer for his old friend, the black dog, was muttered - attracted them like an oasis attracted thirsty travelers.

And by the time he noticed something was wrong, around fifteen Ursa Major had gathered around him. Surrounding him, leaving him no way out. Jaune felt his heart pound, quickly moving onto his feet and taking his weapon, looking for a way to escape.

Panic spread through his body, and the surge of negativity made them lunge at him.

Jaune raised his shield at one and blocked the attack. Closing his eyes and stabbing his sword forward, he pierced the skull of the beast and managed to roll behind the tree as another was about to cut open his face.

Jaune quickly jumped onto the tree, sheathing his weapon to grab onto it, fourteen Grimm remaining on the ground. Unfortunately, the amount of honey he had sapped from the tree made it weak, and it quickly splintered at the base, leaving him falling into the hungry grasp of the monsters.

Screaming loudly, Jaune prepared himself to die, pierced by the spikes on the Ursa's backs, only to notice that he reflexively grabbed the spikes on its back. His mouth was still opened in an eternal scream as instinct took over.

Twisting his body onto the ground, Jaune lifted the Ursa up by its spikes and smashed it into three others, the spikes breaking off. If he could reach the rest of his classmates, they could take the Ursa on.

But they didn't leave him a way out. When one jumped him, he raised his hands, not noticing the spikes still in his hands. The Ursa impaled itself on them and Jaune threw it away, still screaming in fright. The bodies of the thrown Ursa ripped trees apart and shattered them, their spikes sliding over the ground carved the message of a desperate struggle into it.

Jaune held onto the fur of the next Ursa that tried to kill him, his arms in a bear hug around its neck, and holding on tightly to avoid getting crushed under its feet, he hear a snap before the Ursa fell over, crushing him under it. It started to dissolve immediately afterwards.

There was no way he was going to win this!

Jaune's Aura flared.

The white glow changed. Semblance made itself known.

Everything in front of Jaune's eyes turned white, and when he regained consciousness, he was kneeling in the middle of the clearing, his back arched and his face aimed towards the sky.

"Jaune?" he heard someone say. Turning around, he found all his classmates, even Ruby, who was taking a nap on Yang's back. They looked frightened, and Blake was the one standing the furthest behind, as if she'd turn to run away immediately.

What Jaune couldn't see was the image of his Aura around him, in the form of a dragon.

"Pendragon," Blake muttered before passing out. Jaune stood up, the destroyed clearing ripped apart by what looked like fangs and claws of a dragon, and the winged creature behind him vanished with every step he took towards his classmates.

Ruby woke up when it was gone completely, yawning.

When she saw Jaune's form, which was without a scratch besides a few pieces of broken armor, she jumped off her sister's back and rushed to him.

"Jaune! What happened!?"

Jaune was tired. Closing his eyes, he fell forward and was caught by Ruby, muttering a few words before falling asleep. "Thank you for saving me."


	8. As They Deserve

**Jaune's Accidents**

 **Chapter 8: As They Deserve**

* * *

Jaune has not been feeling well lately. After the incident in the forest and the rather non ceremonial destruction of a major part of it, the people in his school have not stopped talking about his rather pathetic display of having to be saved.

Even though his team tried to cheer him up, everything tasted bitter and rather than drag them down further, he decided that the only way to get rid of his frustrations was doing what he did best.

Run away.

Well, take a walk, which was technically running away from his problems. Eventually, he found himself standing in front of the club that Coco had dragged him into a while ago and blinked. Before he could turn around and continue his walk, the guy in front of the club stepped forward and lifted him up with his rather large and impressive hands. "Coco's friend! Jaune, right? Come on in!"

Jaune wasn't in the mood to go in. But he was even less in the mood to protest against a man that could easily lift him up like that. All but throwing him into the club, Jaune was attacked by bright lights and loud music. The only place as far away from the music as possible was the highest floor, so he began to ascend the stairs.

The upper floor was… full. It wasn't this full even when the entire dance floor was filled to the brim the last time he was here. Men and women in black clothes hung around, their faces shadowed from how they angled themselves away from the lights. Most of the tables were used, except for the one table at the end of the floor.

With a smile, Jaune approached that table, trying his best to appear friendly. A man with red hair and sunglasses that hid most of his face above his nose sat there. Jaune wasn't sure what kind of person would wear sunglasses in a club, probably someone way too cool to care.

"Excuse me, could I sit here?" he asked. The people all turned around at once, as if just noticing him. Maybe he was that unremarkable. The man looked up from the table, his sunglasses reflecting Jaune's face back at him, and the smile looked just right. The man hesitated for just a moment.

"Yes," he said, his voice slightly high-pitched. "I… didn't expect you to come so soon."

"Expect me?" Jaune asked. The lights flashed, and Jaune could see horns on the man's head, just now becoming really visible. "Do I know you?"

Jaune sat down and the man leaned back in his chair, his hands on the table, his palms pointing at the ceiling. "My name is Adam."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Jaune said. "I'm sorry I'm intruding, I wasn't looking to enter today, but I felt forced."

The bouncer seemed like a nice enough guy, and Jaune really didn't want to hurt his feelings by declining his rather forceful invitation.

"Forced?" Adam asked. "A-ah, I suppose so. I believe we share a mutual acquaintance. Blake Belladonna."

"You know Blake?" Jaune asked. Blake has always been rather quiet compared to the others, though she also occasionally mentioned the things that the others kept spouting about the Nevermore. "She's… uh, a friend."

"A friend, I see," Adam said. "Of course, she said so… hmph. Say, Jaune Arc, what do you now about the White Fang?"

Jaune wasn't sure he had introduced himself, but Blake might have mentioned him. He didn't think he was really that memorable, though, especially not someone to be recognized under the bad lightning of a club.

"That's the organization that used to fight for Faunus rights, right?" Jaune asked. Adam nodded curtly. "I find it kind of laughable, really. They're already all treated as they deserve."

Adam went rigid, though Jaune didn't notice it as he smiled so widely that his eyes closed out of reflex. Where he grew up, Jaune knew all the Faunus, and all of them were treated equally. Even here in Vale, in Beacon, with the exception of Cardin being a sadistic bully, all the Faunus were treated as they deserved.

"So your opinion of the White Fang isn't very high, I take it?" Adam asked. Jaune completely missed Adam's tone taking on a dangerous edge.

"I don't really bother too much," Jaune said. "If a bunch of people stand up to fight for what they believe in, they can do that. They'll also have to live with the consequences of their actions."

It was a phrase that his father muttered often. If you stand up to do something, whatever comes from it is also your responsibility. Just like he had to deal with the consequences of his lying every day.

"And what consequences would that be?" Adam asked. His hands were no longer on the table, instead hidden under it. The tense atmosphere of the entire floor went far over Jaune's head.

"People get hurt," Jaune explained, thinking back to his punishments. "And eventually, when the people that are hurt become so many that others have to stand up for their own fight, nobody will end up happy."

"And if that happens?"

"Then someone would have to put a stop to it," Jaune said. "Just like my grandfather always said. One man can change a million lives."

The tension bled away and left wariness. "Your grandfather… he fought in the Great War, correct?"

"Yes," Jaune nodded. "He's a man I always looked up to. Someone I want to surpass."

"A man who has killed so many that the earth still reeks of the blood that he has spilled during those years!" Adam said, his voice loud over the music. Jaune grimaced.

"It's… war, isn't it?" Jaune asked. "Always war. I don't think it's fair to blame someone for their actions during a fight where life or death were so closely related."

His parents taught that to him and his sisters early. Conflicts happen. When humans and faunus fight each other rather than the Grimm, it's called a War. And there's nothing glorious about War. The true heroes in a war are those that fight valiantly for their comrades, their country and their home. Those who put their lives on the line to protect everything they hold dear.

"Isn't the conflict with the White Fang also a war?" Jaune asked when Adam kept quiet. The red-haired man went rigid once again, and Jaune could see him pale ever so slightly under the light. "People fighting each other, people standing up to protect the values they hold dear. The leaders of both sides can't find a way to resolve this conflict without further bloodshed."

"What would you do then?" Adam asked, finding his voice again. "If the fighting continues and people keep dying? If both sides don't think they have a choice in continuing until one of them snaps and breaks under the pressure?"

"I'd step in," Jaune asked, nodding to himself. Maybe that was Adam's angle? Asking if Adam should join and try to find a resolution for both sides? "I'd work towards ending the conflict. And I'd keep going until nothing of the war remains."

Until nothing of the White Fang remains, Adam thought. Beads of sweat ran down his neck as Jaune spoke with the conviction that made him realize that the rumors were all true. Jaune Arc was a monster. Someone who was worse than his grandfather. Someone who would send the Faunus rights movement back into the ages of before the Great War.

He needed to kill him. But he didn't have the power. The way Jaune was shifting his weight, he wasn't concerned about an attack, all the people in this room were no match for the dragon's grandson.

What he needed was a power that surpassed everything. He knew the rumors. The fables. He heard that madwoman that kept him under her thumb speak about it. He needed a power to equal this monster.

When Adam stood up, the sword that was almost out of its sheath snapped back into it and all the dark clothed people left. Jaune was left alone, staring at the backs of the people walking down the stairs. "Did I say something wrong?"

It would be a few hours before Jaune stepped out of the club.

###

On his way back to Beacon, Jaune found Blake. Or rather, Blake found him as she ran him over. Her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had been crying.

"Hey Blake," Jaune greeted. "Are you… are you okay?"

"Wh-Ja-ja-jaune!" she blurted out, standing up quickly. "Sorry, I was… what are you doing here so late?"

"Just on my way back to the dorms," Jaune said. "Are you sure you're alright, you look like you've been crying."

"I'm okay, you're just," Blake said nervously. "What were you doing?"

"I was taking a walk, ended up in a club," Jaune said, standing up. When he turned towards Beacon again, Blake followed, keeping up next to him. "I met this guy who mentioned you."

"What?" Blake asked, blinking. "Someone who knew me?"

"Yes, nice fellow," Jaune said. "He said his name was Adam."

"Adam?" she shrieked. "Here?!"

Every fiber in her body wanted her to run away. Adam was here, despite her saying she had protection? He would get her if he wanted to, just sneak in under the cover of the night…

"Yes," Jaune said. "I said we were friends, then talked about the White Fang for a bit," Jaune said. "It's kind of weird, he left so quickly when I mentioned that I'd rather there was no fighting between faunus and humans."

"Friend?" Blake asked, pointing at herself. "Me? I mean, yes! Yes, I'm your friend! Doing friendly things together and hanging out!"

Jaune thought that Blake sounded a bit stilted, especially when she suddenly threw her arm around his neck and continued to walk towards Beacon.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm just peachy!"

From that day onwards, Blake did not wear her bow anymore. Weiss and her seemed to have a fight but made up rather quickly. All went well. Not one new rumor started today!

###

In the underground, the underbelly of the world, where creatures worse than the Grimm lived, a poster was put up.

A reward of your choosing for the head of Jaune Arc.

A man with a scorpion's tail was giggling like mad when he saw them the next day. The young man that made Cinder run back to mommy with her tail stuck in between her legs.


End file.
